Reaching goals through collaboration

Author-e: Collaborative authoring reimagined

Author-e is a collaborative authoring environment with integrated Document Management System (DMS) functionalities. To integrate document storage and authoring, we have created our own document format. These Author-e documents can be edited simultaneously by multiple authors within the system. Apart from the standard editing utilities, you can use our own collaborative functionalities. If you are interested in what those are, then read on below.

Enforce compliance

In Author-e you can define groups of users, for example a department. You can then assign roles with their corresponding rights to those groups. You can do this per Author-e document or section, to ensure compliance. Business rules and documentation standards are further supported by workflows, digital signatures and templates.

Ensure traceability

Author-e's tracking of modifications is crucially different from current solutions in two ways. First, Author-e allows you to trace back modifications to users. Second, Author-e does not just show the differences between the current and previous version. In fact, Author-e can show it for any two versions.

Manage the process

Within Author-e's DMS, any previous version of all files can be retrieved. Previous versions of Author-e sections can also be compared to the current version. Furthermore, change documents for an entire Author-e document can be generated. All files can easily be embedded into Author-e documents or referred to using hyperlinks. When a file is moved or updated, every usage and hyperlink remains intact.

Lastly, within the notification center you get an overview of all tasks set out by and to you, including their due dates and the option to send reminders.

Interested?

What sets us apart?

In the domain of document management and collaborative authoring, there are a lot of offerings. Perhaps the two most well-known applications are Microsoft Sharepoint and Google Docs. However, both applications have their downsides.

Microsoft Sharepoint is a very complex application with abundant features, taking large amounts of resources from IT to set up and maintain, as well as investments in hardware, consultancy and training that comprise around 1/3 of the total investment cost. This makes it inappropriate for small enterprises, also considering the 6 to 8 months timeline required to roll it out and adopt it in a small enterprise, whereas for large companies this can require 3 to 5 years. Furthermore, in a survey among 400 organizations, a majority indicated that they have been unsuccessful in their use/deployment of SharePoint and that the project did not meet its objectives. Lastly, regarding collaborative authoring, anyone can edit anywhere in the document, with no traceability, accountability, or responsibility.

Google Docs on the other hand, also has its limitations. Long documents and too many collaborators tend to make the editor much less reactive, and version history is limited. Furthermore, the servers of Google are subject to the Patriot Act, making it unsuitable for patent-related documentation or documents involving privacy or secrecy issues. It is perfect for informal documents, but it is a poor choice for desktop publishing or technical documentation.

These tools lack the capabilities to create relationships and trace dependencies between requirements. They don't allow multiple teams to collaborate in real time, and they are not designed to handle versioning and change management. As a result, these shortcomings often manifest into lost productivity, project delays, and disappointed customers. We believe our suite combines the benefits of both, without having these drawbacks, by providing a powerful tool that is easy to use and easy to set up, which allows controlled collaborative authoring and document management for even the most sensitive documents and data. For more detail on our benefits, visit our solutions pages!